Hi everybody,
I have two guitars from the Arbor Series (1978-1985):
a HG 950 with serial “F04195”
and a HG 940 with serial “N00958”.
I would like to know when and where (Japan/Korea) are these guitars made ?
Thanks for your help !
The Arbor Series were made in Japan. They weren’t in the 1979 price list but they are in the 1980 price list. I don’t think they were made for very long so yours is probably 1980 or maybe 1981 (because they probably all are).
They have a five digit serial number but often with a character in front (maybe “No” for Number?) which doesn’t print very well. I think this is what you’re interpreting as F and N. In any case, the serial number is not helpful for dating.
Your HG-950 belonged to a Hohner collector who is active on another forum, and so is already recorded on the spreadsheet that that forum keeps. He loves the Arbor Series so much that his username ends “arborist”, but I think he may be thinning down the herd.
Thank you very much philw for your input, well on the HG 950 this is not an “N” (see photo). I have read that these guitars are made between 1978-1985 and that production has shifted in 1980 from Japan to Korea and that Kazuo Yairi himself was part of the Japanese made guitars. Can you give me the link to this spreadsheet? Thanks for your help and input !
I see the same symbol on both images. It’s not a letter.
The K Yairi stuff is urban legend, and if it is true then it relates to a small number of guitars made probably before 1975. The most common Japanese factory used for Hohner acoustics is Terada, with some probably made by S. Yairi and Yamaki (all under the oversight of Moridaira).
“1978 - 1985” is just a shorthand that was used when the Hohner PDF was put together. The actual date ranges of individual models in the PDF varied considerably, with some starting as early as 1975 and very little evidence of Japanese production carrying on to 1985. (There were Hohner guitars before 1975 but those are “prehistoric” for the purposes of the PDF.) The Arbor Series were made for a short period around 1980.
Production on cheaper guitars started moving to Korea as early as 1979. But midrange and higher end models continued to be made in Japan. There is zero chance that the Arbor Series acoustics were made in Korea.
The spreadsheet isn’t public.You’d have to ask on https://www.tdpri.com/threads/hohner-owners.305616/ for a copy.
philw, thanks a lot for those details. I have found the “1978-1985” claim in the Hohner PDF you mentioned and I always wondered, why there is nothing more about in this file. I have read about K Yairi being involved in pre 1975 models. I am really suprised, that the Arbor Series were only made in 1980. I think they are made by Matsumoko, because Terada mostly used paper labels. What do you think?
Is there any way to get a correct date out of that serial number?
Thanks for the link, I was already reading in this thread for long.
By the way, do you have an Arbor Series guitar?